musings on things jazzy and musical

Kekko Fornarelli: CD ‘Room of Mirrors’ (on being solicited – part 2)

A sequence of sonorous chords on piano over a steady back beat on the drums and a background of an atmospheric wash of synth sounds makes an attention grabbing opening to this CD from Italian pianist Kekko Fornarelli. A distinctive mix that’s a deliberate reference to the late Esbjorn Svensson’s trio ( who once declared himself a pop musician who played a little jazz – a jokey distillation of his strong instinct for making his music appeal to a wide audience). I happened to have Svensson’s ‘Gagarin’s point of View’ on my iPod when I listened to the title track Room of Mirrors, and switching between the two was uncanny in the similarity of atmosphere and even tempo. Fornarelli has made the swedish master’s sound a stepping off point I’d say rather than a blue print. This collection of original compositions rings the changes with some great moments. The Flavour of Clouds is a lovely hymn like melodic with the odd gospelly inflection and Daily Jungle takes the the elements of the opener and adds a clubby drum pattern underneath with a slow moving melody. Coffee and Cigarettes is a funky shuffle with a catchy riff for a melody and Dream and Compromise has an even, flowing 12/8 feel with something of classical romantic feel to the progression with singing melodic line from the bass of Luca Bulgarelli. That romantic, emotional feel is present throughout this collection. I enjoyed listening (how I came to be doing so I’ve chewed over in part 1) and it was that variety within a particular approach, strong group vibe and sustained sense of melody that earned my vote.